Active Meditation vs Vīrya Guided
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Active Meditation
Access a library of guided meditations and courses designed to enhance focus, relaxation, and sleep. Features binaural beats for brainwave entrainment and bite-sized lessons for daily practice.
- Guided meditations
- Meditation courses
- Binaural beats
- Sleep meditations
- Mini meditations
- Progress tracking
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The Active Meditation™ free mobile app delivers high-quality meditations and courses conveniently to your mobile devices. It offers a variety of meditation experiences from guided courses to sleep meditations to daily mini-meditations. All of the audio content is embedded with expertly tuned binaural beats to activate brainwave entrainment and enhance meditation, focus and relaxation. Active Meditation courses and guided meditations empower you to master the inner workings of your own psychology. Learn to improve your mood, and outlook with bite-sized lessons that can be practiced anywhere, at anytime. Discover your Highest Self! Binaural beats: quickly train your brain to enter deep meditations. Guided courses: track your progress through courses to Master Self-Inquiry or learn to Cope with Chaos in an increasingly hectic and stressful social and political environment Sleep better: Binaural beats entrain the brain to quickly and effortlessly enter deep-sleep brainwave states Mini meditations: A variety of 15-20 minute tracks made to fit easily into a busy schedule Traditionally, meditation techniques and the accompanying spiritual truths are offered free of charge. We embrace this tradition. All Active Meditation content, including audio exercises and written materials are complimentary.
Vīrya Guided
This app guides users through a unique meditation practice using Auto Self-Transcending (AST) and proprietary biofeedback technology. It tracks physiological and brain activity to quantify recovery and enhance well-being, offering personalized insights and habit-building support.
- Auto Self-Transcending (AST) meditation
- Transcendometer® biofeedback technology
- EEG and Apple Watch integration
- Self-Regulation Quality Index (SRQI)
- VLĪS Analytics for subjective experience tracking
- Habit Assist AI notifications
- Unwind & Realign Guided Series
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The Practice - Meditating to Transcend using AST. Auto Self Transcending (AST) Meditation uses effortless bija-mantra repetition to enter pure awareness, akin to stilling the mind in deep sleep, but with full self-awareness. This ancient Vedic-Śramana practice involves two phases: inward (transcending) and outward (normalization), mimicking the restorative effects of sleep. It fosters neurophysiological balance while enhancing conscious experience. Benefits include improved memory, emotional regulation, and overall well-being. Our Technology - Experience the New Era of Transcending Meditation with Transcendometer® Vīrya’s Transcendometer® is our proprietary engine for objectively measuring Auto Self-Transcending (AST) meditation. In our Guided app, the Apple Watch Ōura ring & WHOOP Band captures real-time data on your body’s recovery—tracking key markers of physiological normalization and stress relief—while our EEG app records precise brain activity to pinpoint transcending moments. Our Self-Regulation Quality Index (SRQI) quantifies how effectively your body recovers during Dive sessions by analyzing heart rate decreases along with metrics like HR variability, sleep quality, calories burned, and workouts. Each session refines your personalized biometric model, providing actionable insights to optimize recovery, elevate well-being, and transform your transcending journey. Engage in Transcendometer® Dive sessions on our EEG and Guided apps to build a personalized biometric model that boosts your health and well-being through daily transcending analysis. VLĪS Analytics Remembering every detail of your transcending sessions can be challenging. With Virya's VLĪS Analytics, you can effortlessly track the subjective experiences that follow your meditation and view your progress in a clear, easy-to-read chart—giving you a chance to reflect on your journey. When combined with Transcendometer® Heart Tracking, it creates your personalized biometric model, designed to enhance your health and well-being through detailed analysis of your daily transcending practice. Habit powered by Transcendometer® Building a 20-minute, twice-daily habit can be challenging. Habit Assist AI notifications help you stay consistent, boosting your transcending endurance—even on busy days. Paired with Transcendometer® Heart Tracking, which monitors your biometric model, you’ll see measurable changes in normalization between sessions and notice the impact of any missed ones. Unwind & Realign Series: MindStill-ness x MindFull-ness. Begin with the Unwind Guided Series to cultivate mindfulness and heighten your present-moment awareness before your transcending session. Then, enhance your practice with the Realign Series—a guided gratitude journey that uses the power of mindfulness and the law of attraction to manifest your desires after your session. I meditate to Tranścend. During the Tranścend Program using neurofeedback and brain-computer interfacing (BCI), you’ve built the foundation of your personalized biometric AI model. Enhance that foundation with our Guided Transcendometer® Heart Tracking, which continually refines your model with data-driven insights to elevate your overall well-being. Other Traditional Brands. Traditional approaches like Transcendental Meditation, Vedic Meditation, Sahaj Samadhi, Ziva Technique, and 1GiantMind lack the seamless integration of personalized biofeedback that puts real-time insights into your health and well-being at your fingertips during your daily transcending practice. Our technology and services are designed to enhance your daily transcending practice by fostering mental stability, cognitive and emotional intelligence, and a healthier, more successful life. Vīrya's Guided Transcendometer® app and its ECG analysis are not intended for the diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of any medical condition. Terms Of Use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Active Meditation at 4.8 against Vīrya Guided's 4.0. Active Meditation also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (183 vs 5). Vīrya Guided's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 92%). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Vīrya Guided sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Active Meditation asks for nothing beyond the download.
Active Meditation holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Active Meditation has 183 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 92% of Active Meditation's written reviews are positive against 100% of Vīrya Guided's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Active Meditation ships an update every 3 months, Vīrya Guided every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Active Meditation | Vīrya Guided |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (183 ratings) — better | 4.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 183 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 302 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Active Meditation Inc. | Evocate Media LLC |
Customer experience
Active Meditation
Vīrya Guided
In-app purchases
Active Meditation
No in-app purchases
Vīrya Guided
- Monthly Subscription Plan3 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
Questions
Is Active Meditation free?
Is Vīrya Guided free?
Which has better reviews, Active Meditation or Vīrya Guided?
Do Active Meditation or Vīrya Guided have ads?
Which is updated more often, Active Meditation or Vīrya Guided?
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